Shumlin: 'Websites get fixed'

2/23/14 9:52 AM EST

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin says the problems with the Affordable Care Act rollout are getting fixed — and that Republicans were boxing themselves in politically by focusing on failures instead of the successes.

“Websites get fixed. We’re fixing ours. They’re fixing theirs. The federal exchange is working better," the Democratic governor said on “Fox News Sunday." "The problem with the Republican governors in my view on this one is: Listen, I have people come up to me every day and say, ‘Thank you, governor. I finally have health care I can afford.’”

Sitting on a panel with Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Shumlin said the refusal of some GOP governors — including Walker — to accept federal money was driven solely by animus toward President Barack Obama.

“He’s turning down, in Wisconsin as an example, $4.4 billion in federal money over the next decade that would help Wisconsinites get affordable health care,” Shumlin said about Walker.

“These Republican governors — because they don’t like the president, because they want to make a political point — are hurting their constituents,” Shumlin said.

Shumlin acknowledged, though, that Vermont’s health care rollout did not go smoothly and faced many of the same challenges that plagued the federal exchange — including sign-up difficulties and information technology failures.

“We all acknowledge, including the president and governors, getting the exchanges up was tough,” Shumlin said.

“There isn’t an exchange in the country that hasn’t had a challenge in the rollout, we acknowledge that," Shumlin said. "But Vermont happens to be the state that has signed up more people per capita for affordable health care than any other state in the nation — including the federal exchange.”

“Our constituents are smart: They know we didn’t pass it, we didn’t vote for it, we didn’t create it. We have to implement it," Shumlin said. "What voters want is for their governors to get health care to folks who can’t afford it.”